VIDEO SHOWS: AERIAL STILLS SHOWING SOUTHWEST FRANCE WILDFIRE AT NIGHT / FIREFIGHTERS AT COMMAND POST / SOUNDBITES OF FIREFIGHTER COMMANDER, MATTHIEU JOMAIN, ON CURRENT SITUATION

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

STORY: French firefighters kept a major blaze west of Bordeaux that had prompted mass evacuations under control overnight, ahead of forecast rising temperatures and winds which are expected to fan fires later on Wednesday (July 29).

Firefighter Commander Matthieu Jomain said firefighting conditions in the night of Tuesday (July 28) to Wednesday were relatively calm, but higher temperatures and wind speeds expected on Wednesday afternoon could make crews' task harder.

"The situation is stable but the fire is still not under control," he said, adding "we remain vigilant."

Temperatures in the area are expected to peak at 42 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday, according to Meteo-France, while dry winds from the southwest in the morning and from the west in the afternoon are likely to stoke flames.

The blaze has devastated 42,000 hectares (103,784 acres) of mainly pine tree forests, after a severe dry spell caused by a series of heatwaves.

More than 2,200 firefighters remain mobilised in the zone, along with 20 firefighting aircraft, Jomain said.

(Camera: Ben Makori, Production, Writing & Editing: Ardee Napolitano)

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: IN AIR, OVER GIRONDE DEPARTMENT, FRANCE (JULY 28-29, 2026) (SDIS 33 - Must on-screen courtesy "SDIS 33/Benoit Vega" / No resales) (MUTE)

1. VARIOUS AERIAL STILLS OF FLAMES AND SMOKE IN FOREST, LINE OF FIREFIGHTER VEHICLES NEARBY

2. AERIAL STILL OF FIREFIGHTER VEHICLES

3. AERIAL STILL OF WILDFIRE FLAMES

4. AERIAL STILL OF BULLDOZER TEARING DOWN TREES TO CREATE FIREBREAK

LEGE-CAP-FERRET, FRANCE (JULY 29, 2026) (REUTERS - Access all)

5. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS AT COMMAND POST

6. FIREFIGHTER COMMANDER, MATTHIEU JOMAIN, GIVING PRESS BRIEFING

7. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIREFIGHTER COMMANDER, MATTHIEU JOMAIN, SAYING:

"As we speak, the situation is stable but the fire is still not under control. All firefighting operations, water drops and responding to pain points and flare-ups that we've seen, as Madam Prefect discussed yesterday in a press release, were conducted. We remain vigilant, of course, today considering the weather forecast conditions, with a new rise in temperatures and higher wind speeds in the afternoon."

8. SUN SHINING

9. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS LOOKING AT MAPS

10. MAPS

11. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIREFIGHTER COMMANDER, MATTHIEU JOMAIN, SAYING:

"Right now, we are focused in three sectors - the north of the Cap Ferret peninsula, the area south of Marcheprime, Cestas, Saint-Jean-d'Illac which still has our attention, and then we had a significant start of a fire in the area around Martignas, near a military compound, and this also required us to mobilise a lot of resources, and we continue to monitor the situation on site."

12. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS AT COMMAND POST

13. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIREFIGHTER COMMANDER, MATTHIEU JOMAIN, SAYING:

"More than 2,200 firefighters are still deployed in the field, with diverse institutional backgrounds - almost all of France's firefighters are here, our European counterparts came to lend us a hand on the ground and in the air. We have around 20 aircraft - Air Tractor, Dash, Canadair, firefighting helicopters - that are currently deployed. And the strategy remains the same - we'll go fast and we'll go hard on any new smoke that appears."

14. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS AT COMMAND POST